City of Joburg to seek meeting with Batohi over prosecutions - Mashaba

Johannesburg - The City of Johannesburg will seek a meeting with incoming National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi once she assumes office, over some of the department's decisions to withdraw apparently clear-cut cases, mayor Herman Mashaba said on Monday.

On Sunday night investigative television show "Carte Blanche" aired a programme on corruption allegedly uncovered by the city around the dropping of "prosecutable" cases by the National Prosecuting Authority.

"On numerous occasions, the city has sought to engage the NPA to raise our concern on the apparent lack of attention paid to fraud and corruption matters referred to it by the city," Mashaba said in a statement.

"So far, these engagements have yielded poor results."

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Batohi's appointment last week, heeding an order by the Constitutional Court in August to choose a new NDPP within 90 days.

The court highlighted severe challenges it said had confronted the National Prosecuting Authority in recent years, including leadership instability and a decline in public confidence in the institution.

On Monday, Mashaba noted the withdrawal of the case against former candidate valuer Mbali McClare, who was arrested for deliberately undervaluing 22 properties in the city amounting to just under R500 million as "one of a number of slam-dunk cases" investigated by the city’s forensic investigations services.

"It is astounding to the city that justice is not served in the vast number of cases which the city has handed over to law enforcement authorities," he said.